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Bad day to be a fish of mine... :(

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I lost two cardinals and one galaxy rasbora today. They looked a little bloated and pale. Please see my profile for my stocking list. My params are as follows: Nitrate <10, Nitrite 0, Ammonia 0, ph 7.2-7.4

I was in a bit of a rush when I noticed them dead... I work at a daycare next door to my house and I had to get back to work so I didn't have time to take pictures. Any thoughts?

P.S. I don't overfeed them so I'm not sure why they were bloated... :(

Assuming appearance noted when they were dead, all fish i have lost have lost colour, ie pale. you are confident they're not overfed, try a search in this and diseases forums for bloated, see if any circumstances match. Look for something that changed recently in your tank - new additions, water from a different source, chemicals in the room - cleaning, painting, etc.

So sorry for the losses; bloat can be caused by bacteria in the gut but since you change water so often, be surprised if tank parameters were the issue. However, how often do you vacuum? That could allow waste food to spoil and many fish will eat that ...also, is your tap ok? No ammonia/nitrites/nitrates in it?

Knowledge is fun(damental)

A 75 gal with eight Discus, fake plants, and a lot of wood also with sand substrate. Clean up crew is down to just two Sterba's Corys. Filters: continuous new water flow; canister w/UV, in-tank algae scrubber!! Finally, junked the nitrate removal unit from hell.

50% every 4 days is a lot of water changing. Does anyone here think that the water changes could be part of the problem? Are there chemicals in the tap water causing issues? Have you dechlorinated? Is the temperature of the water you are adding within 2 degrees of the tank temperature?

I find that even though routine water changes are very good for fish, that large volume water changes tend to stress my fish out. Especially if the method I am using to change the water is extreme. This could be a long shot, but its worth considering.

Well it's now the next morning and I'm grateful to report no additional losses as of yet.

In response to all your help the gravel is siphoned every other week; is that often enough? It seems to be enough to keep my gravel free of significant deritus.

I checked the list of diseases on here and none seem to resemble what I saw, not even dropsy.

Also, I just tested the tap water... it's all clear of any param. readings after being dechlorinated with Aqueon's water conditioner.

Lastly, before adding water during water changes I allow it to settle into the correct temperature for about an hour in large buckets with small Tetra heaters pre-set to 78 f (Oh no... shoot! My tank is at a constant 76 f... could this slight deviation be the problem? I have no way of modifying the setting on the heaters though...)...

EDIT: I'm reading the packaging of the small heaters I pre-treat the water with... they are preset to 78 f +/- 2 degrees, not 78 f exactly... so I'm assuming it could reach up to 80 f. Ughh! Stupid, stupid me... :_(

50% water change is really huge change, which could be justified in case something is really wrong with water parameters in your tank (ammonia after overfeed or death, accidental chemical poisong etc.). I suggest you to make PWC of 20% max per week (but surely you will decide the proper % upon the situation). The reason for smaller PWC is smaller affect on the system it creates. Besides, this will minimize the risk of fluctuations of the parameters of tap water, which can be very unstable. For instance (this is real life case), due to some reason your city water supply company suddenly finds too much bacteria in the intake water (river, lake, underground/well), before they make investigation of the causes of such situation, for safety reasons they will double or triple the amount of clorines in the water. Technological pollution of the intake waters might also take place sometimes. Many possible reasons, indeed. So, if your tank doesn't really require a huge pwc, I suggest that you minimize it to some reasonable amount.

I highly doubt if the volume and frequency of waterchanges is an issue. Many members here do 50% changes on a routine basis. Discus keepers change that much and more, sometimes every day. If your tap water is good and you do not forget to add the dechlor, and the temp is within 5 degrees, I would look for something else causing the deaths.

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"Keeping fish for any period of time doesn't make you experienced if you're doing it wrong. What does, is acknowledging those mistakes and learning from them." ~Aeonflame
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